The Most Insane Megaproject You Never Heard About · Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
视频讲述冷战时期美国用核弹进行和平建设的疯狂计划Project Plowshare，适合练习科技与历史类话题。
In the 1960s, the US planned to nuke Israel with hundreds of thermonuclear bombs.
20世纪60年代，美国曾计划使用数百枚热核炸弹对以色列发动核攻击。
And Panama.
还有巴拿马。
And Alaska.
还有阿拉斯加。
All in the name of progress, driven by a mad scientist, to use the most destructive of weapons to…
这一切都是以“进步”的名义进行的；而推动这一切的，是一个疯狂的科学家。他使用最具破坏性的武器，目的是……
build things.
建造各种东西。
Excavate canals.
挖掘运河。
Carve out harbors.
开凿港口。
Tap oil and gas.
开采石油和天然气。
This was Project Plowshare.
这就是“Plowshare”项目（又称“犁头计划”）。
It kept the US busy for two decades, burned hundreds of millions of dollars and exploded dozens of nukes for a bright future,
这场冲突让美国忙了二十年，耗费了数百亿美元，并动用了数十枚核武器，却只为换取一个“光明的未来”……
in the most feverish years of the Cold War, when the world got terrifyingly close to blowing itself up.
在冷战最激烈的那些年代，当时世界正处于极度危险的边缘——随时都有可能自我毁灭。
Nukes for Peace Our story begins with the brilliant Hungarian physicist Edward Teller – one of the key scientists of the Manhattan Project,
用核武器实现和平” 我们的故事始于那位杰出的匈牙利物理学家爱德华·泰勒——他是曼哈顿计划的关键科学家之一。
the colossal effort that led to the first nuclear bomb.
为制造第一颗核弹所付出的巨大努力。
But almost from the beginning, he dreamt of destroying the world much harder.
但从几乎一开始，他就梦想着以更加极端的方式毁灭这个世界。
“Traditional” nukes, like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki ones, release energy by splitting heavy atoms, like uranium.
传统的核武器（如广岛和长崎投下的那些核弹）是通过分裂重原子（如铀）来释放能量的。
But these are rare, expensive, and the resulting bombs are difficult to scale up.
不过这类设备非常罕见且价格昂贵，而且使用它们制造出的炸弹难以实现大规模生产（即难以大规模制造或部署）。
So Teller lobbied for a different approach – unleash the nuclear fire by smashing together hydrogen atoms.
因此，泰勒主张采用另一种方法：通过让氢原子发生碰撞来引发核反应（即释放核能量）。
That would allow for bombs thousands of times more powerful.
这样一来，就可以制造出威力强大数千倍的炸弹了。
The problem was technically hard, but in the 1950s Teller solved it.
从技术角度来看，这个问题非常复杂；不过在20世纪50年代，泰勒（Teller）成功解决了它。
The terrifying new thermonuclear bomb made Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like firecrackers.
这种新型的热核炸弹威力极其可怕，其破坏效果甚至让广岛和长崎的景象都显得微不足道（仿佛只是普通的鞭炮爆炸而已）。
Nuclear fire strong enough to end human civilization itself.
这种核爆炸的威力足以终结整个人类文明。
The Soviet Union followed quickly and a new madness for destruction took over the world.
苏联很快也加入了这一行列，一种新的、旨在破坏一切的疯狂行为开始席卷全球。
Teller was having the time of his
泰勒当时正过得非常愉快。
life as he got to chase his
他按照自己的方式去追求自己想要的生活。
nukiest dreams, like a bomb so powerful
那些疯狂的梦想……就像一颗威力无比的炸弹。
that it would wipe out civilization in one single strike – a real thing the US actually started working on.
这种武器只需一次攻击就能摧毁整个文明；美国确实已经开始研发这种武器了。
We told this story before, if you want to watch it.
我们之前讲过这个故事，如果你想看的话，可以再看一下。
And as the perfectly sane man he was, Teller had other great ideas, like nuking the Moon to show the commies who’s boss.
作为一个完全神志清醒的人，泰勒还有许多其他绝妙的想法——比如用核武器炸毁月球，以此向那些共产主义者证明谁才是真正的统治者。
And if H-bombs could destroy the planet…
如果氢弹真的能够摧毁这颗星球的话……
maybe they could also reshape it?
也许他们也可以对它进行重新设计（或改造）呢？
The logic wasn’t entirely unhinged.
这种逻辑其实也并非完全荒谬或不可理解。
Humans had been using explosives for mining and engineering for centuries.
几个世纪以来，人类一直在采矿和工程领域使用爆炸物。
And H-bombs offered the same service with much more enthusiasm at a decent cost.
氢弹同样能够实现这些目标，而且其使用效率更高（即“热情”更强烈），同时成本也更加合理。
Why not use them to dig ditches and make holes at a planetary scale?
为什么不用它们来在行星尺度上挖掘沟渠和打洞呢？
The idea of "nukes for peace" was also pretty convenient.
用核武器维护和平”这一想法其实也相当“方便”（即：可以轻易地被人们接受或利用）。
With public opinion increasingly opposed to the arms race and ever more terrified by WW3,
随着公众舆论越来越反对军备竞赛，并且对第三次世界大战的恐惧与日俱增……
nuclear engineering was a way to keep on testing nuclear weapons without saying you were testing nuclear weapons.
核工程是一种可以在不公开表明自己正在测试核武器的情况下持续进行核武器试验的途径。
So in 1957, the US launched Project Plowshare, a bold plan to use nuclear explosions for peaceful engineering.
1957年，美国启动了“Plowshare”计划（意为“犁地计划”），这是一个大胆的倡议，旨在利用核爆炸进行和平的工程活动。
And who would be put at the helm?
那么，谁会被任命来掌舵呢？
Exactly.
没错。